The Untold Truth of Bulletproof Coffee

There are a lot of fads out there, but this is a particularly strange one.

Bulletproof Coffee has become incredibly popular over the last few years. In fact, it has become so widely known that even people outside of the world of fitness are trying it. Basically, Bulletproof Coffee is a special coffee drink that you would make each morning instead of your typical breakfast.

What is Bulletproof Coffee ?

The creator of Bulletproof Coffee, Dave Asprey, was inspired to pioneer this new brew after his trip to Mt. Kailash, Tibet. Here, at 18,000 feet above sea level, Asprey was first introduced to a traditional Tibetan tea made with yak butter.

This special tea has been consumed by both the Tibet and Chinese people since the 10th century.

Now, to make this version, you’ll need tea leaves, water, salt, and good ol’ fashioned yak butter (made from the milk of domesticated yaks, an animal in the cattle family).

When Asprey tried this tea, he claimed he was “rejuvenated”. Asprey insisted on creating his own version of yak butter tea for those of us living in the states. So he replaced tea with coffee and yak butter with grass-fed butter.

The result came to be known as Bulletproof Coffee.

What’s In The Bulletproof Coffee ?

After years of fiddling with a coffee recipe to rival the yak-butter tea, Dave Asprey arrived at a well-frothed blend of low-toxin joe, one to two tablespoons of unsalted grass-fed butter (though he personally uses up to six), and 1 to 2 tablespoons of medium-chain triglyceride oil, a replacement for coconut oil “because I didn’t want my coffee to taste like a tropical beverage,” Asprey says.

He called his concoction Bulletproof coffee and posted it on his blog in 2009, suggesting people drink the fat-filled, 460-calorie plus beverage instead of breakfast, promising that it removed cravings, promoted weight loss by triggering ketosis, and had “a massive impact on cognitive function.” Asprey claims that drinking the coffee and other health hacks helped boost his IQ by more than 20 points. (Marjorie Nolan Cohn, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says improvements in mental clarity “can’t be scientifically substantiated,” though “fats are beneficial for brain function.”)

Bulletproof Coffee fans say tastes like a delicious creamy latte–took off.

Actress Shailene Woodley tweeted about it (“one of the greatest of human achievements”), Jimmy Fallon discussed it with Maya Rudolph on his show, and Silicon Valley execs such as Dan Scholnick, a partner at Trinity Ventures, are so addicted they travel with coffee-making equipment (whole beans, a grinder, an Aeropress, and a battery-operated milk frother), plus butter (Scholnick freezes it the night before) and the MCT oil. “I’ve made Bulletproof coffee on a plane at 30,000 feet,” Scholnick says, noting that a little tube of MCT oil is “under 3 ounces.” Scholnick even invited Asprey to talk to the some 50 CEOs of Trinity’s portfolio companies. “He’s had the biggest impact on my life of anyone in the past five years,” Scholnick says.

How to make Bulletproof Coffee – Official Recipe

So, as it turns out, Bulletproof Coffee is actually very simple to make.

You just put these ingredients into a blender, and whip it all together. It will come out with the consistency of a frothy latte.

Ingredients:

2 ½ heaping tablespoons ground Bulletproof Coffee Beans
1 teaspoon – 2 tablespoons Brain Octane Oil
1-2 tablespoons grass-fed, unsalted butter or grass-fed ghee.

Directions:

1. Make your coffee. Brew 1 cup (8-12 ounces) of coffee using filtered water with 2 ½ heaping tablespoons of freshly ground Bulletproof Coffee Beans. Use a French Press for ease of use and to preserve beneficial coffee oils that paper filters keep out.
2. Add Brain Octane Oil. Add 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons of Brain Octane Oil (start slow with this stuff – it’s powerful!)
3. Add grass-fed butter or ghee. Add 1-2 tablespoons of grass-fed, unsalted butter or grass-fed ghee. Make sure your butter is unsalted. Salty coffee is gross.
4. Blend. Mix it all in a blender for 20-30 seconds until it looks like a creamy latte. There will be a good amount of foam on top.

Bulletproof Coffee Benefits

1. Bulletproof Coffee Gives You All the Benefits of Black Coffee, and More
A regular cup of black coffee is full of nutrients and drinking coffee regularly has many health benefits. Regular coffee drinkers may be surprised to find that bulletproof coffee can help prevent diabetes, protect the brain from Alzheimer’s, and help prevent Parkinson’s disease (2) Bulletproof coffee can also protect the liver, lower the risk of stroke, and help the brain fight depression.

2. Bulletproof Coffee Can Help With Weight Loss
Bulletproof coffee, when combined with the bulletproof diet, can help individuals lose large amounts of weight very quickly. Even though it is high in fats, the idea is to utilize bulletproof coffee in a way that the fats are used as a source of energy.

Many people use bulletproof coffee as their main breakfast item and report that it keeps them feeling full until their next snack or meal. Avoiding overeating on unhealthy foods is an important part of any weight loss journey and consuming a cup of bulletproof coffee each morning can help reduce cravings.

3. Bulletproof Coffee Is High In Healthy Fats
From the grass-fed butter and the two different types of oils that are commonly used, bulletproof coffee is very high in omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids help the body in many ways, including fighting depression, helping relieve symptoms of asthma, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease (4). Omega-3 fatty acids are also important in pregnant and nursing women to help with the development of a newborn’s eyes and brain.

While it is not as talked about compared to omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids are also important for the body. These fatty acids contain anti-inflammatory agents that help prevent aging, as well as helping to prevent cardiovascular illnesses and diabetes.

4. Bulletproof Coffee Can Help Keep Your Brain Healthy
bulletproof coffee for weightl ossBulletproof coffee comes at the brain in a two-fold manner to promote mental health. Coffee, can protect the brain from age related cognitive illnesses, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

At low doses, bulletproof coffee can act as a mild cognitive enhancer. It can also help reduce anxiety, improve mood, and can help cognitive decline in older populations. Remember to keep in mind that high-doses of caffeine may worsen anxiety, make individuals jittery, and can cause insomnia.

5. Bulletproof Coffee Can Help Boost Your Energy
Bulletproof coffee is a great source of caffeine. As avid coffee drinkers know, caffeine gives many an awesome and usually much needed boost of energy in the morning, and even helps boost athletic performance.

However, when coffee is loaded with sugar and cream, the calories are mostly empty, and do not provide any nutrients to help you get through your day. Bulletproof coffee, while high in fat, provides nutritious calories to keep you going throughout the morning, especially on days that you do not have time to grab breakfast.

6. Bulletproof Coffee Has Great Taste Without Added Sugar
For those who consume their coffee black, the calorie count is extremely low to none. Adding sugar and cream quickly raises the calorie count to well over one hundred calories per cup depending on how much you add. Those who enjoy lattes, mochas, and other speciality drinks, caloric count quickly rises per cup.

Bulletproof coffee does contain more fat than a regular cup of black coffee due to the fat in the butter, but does not contain any excess sugar. Sugar can turn into fat once inside the body causing weight gain, high blood pressure, and high levels of bad cholesterol.

The fat found in bulletproof coffee is a healthy fat that helps keep your body working and functioning efficiently and can help keep you feeling full throughout your morning.

Should You Drink Bulletproof Coffee?

Coffee is a resource that is indispensable and humans will always continue to consume. We depend on coffee to wake us up in the morning, give us a quick boost of energy when we are tired, and consumed for it’s many health benefits.

While Bulletproof coffee is undeniably way overhyped, it would be unfair to call it an outright scam. However, I would argue that the real benefit of drinking Bulletproof Coffee is that you would be doing it instead of eating a normal breakfast.

For many people, this would mean taking in fewer calories, since the 400-500 calories in a cup of Bulletproof Coffee is less than the average person’s breakfast. Moreover, the fact that it is less likely to spike your insulin levels than a normal breakfast, may lead you to having more energy and better mental focus.

However, Bulletproof Coffee is not a magic bullet (pun intended).

The latest trend of bulletproof coffee, to no surprise, has become popular worldwide for the many reasons mentioned above. The many health benefits of coffee combined with the many benefits of MCT oil, have become a drink that will help consumers live healthier, more active lifestyles.

In the end, though, I would urge that if you’re really curious you should try Bulletproof Coffee for yourself. Some people swear by it, after all. I will still drink a cup of Bulletproof Coffee from time to time. But the truth is, I’d much rather eat breakfast.